Golf in Orland Park

Odyssey Sweet Spot lets players unwind with cold beverages, sizzling pub fare, and a lineup of crisp HDTVs that funnel sporting events throughout the tavern. As bartenders sling drink specials, Golden Tee 2011 arcade games allow players to enjoy the game of golf while still giving misbehaving 9-irons the silent treatment.

The golfer addresses the ball at the tee box before taking aim at a target: a green on the other side of a water hazard, a classic forced-carry par three. Though it would not be out of place on any golf course, this particular hole is actually a part of the Chicago Players Club's 26-acre practice complex. In addition to the practice par-three hole, the facility encompasses a sprawling driving range with 55 grass hitting stations, 17 covered and heated hitting bays, and seven target greens. Adjacent to the range, golfers can hone their game around the green at the short game range, which includes a bunker to build sandcastle memorials to all of the golf balls lost in battle to course hazards. The entire complex is open year-round and lighted for after-hours practice.

Though golfers can find ample opportunities to improve their skills at the facility through solo practice, the Chicago Players Club can make practice sessions even more effective with advice from a staff of veteran instructors. The staff includes decorated PGA pros Mike Mandakas—who started the Chicago Players Club after working at both the elite Olympia Fields and Medinah Country Clubs—and Mike Harrigan, who played in eight Western Open PGA Tournaments and was the Illinois PGA Pro and Teacher of the Year in 1995. The staff offers lessons for players of all ages and abilities, as well as club-fitting services to ensure golfers and their equipment are emotionally compatible.

If the sun is shining, then the Hickory Hills Golf Club's greens are open. The club welcomes players 365 days a year to drive through the more than 7,400 total yards of fairways that make up their 18-hole championship and 9-hole executive courses. Golfers drive carts along a chain of manicured links that date back to 1915, the year the seedlings from Woodrow Wilson's "Plant-a-Golf Course" program began sprouting flagpoles.

Courses at a Glance

Championship Course

• 18-hole, par 71 course
• Total length of 5,928 yards
• Course rating of 67.9 from the back tees
• Course slope of 116 from the back tees

Executive Course

• 9-hole, par 30 course
• Total length of 1,560 yards from the back tees

A stately, English Tudor–style clubhouse greets guests from its perch overlooking Stony Creek Golf Course, a 5,004-yard, par-65 fairway chain that connects over rolling, tree-lined terrain. A stone-lined creek forms a watery wishbone across the relatively short course, adding a scenic sense of continuity as golfers hack their way across nine par-3s, eight par-4s, and one 518-yard, par-5 alpha hole known to give greenskeepers wedgies. The course shares its grassy hillocks with a fully lighted practice facility featuring a driving range—which offers the option of hitting from synthetic turf or real grass—and a miniature golf course occupied by fountains and waterfalls. After a day at the links, guests can unwind at the clubhouse bar and grill, where immense windows look over the course and a covered patio provides an area for spectating games of bocce ball, horseshoes, or pole vaulting with 3-irons.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par-65 course
• Length of 5,004 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 62.5 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 103 from the farthest tees
• Three tee options
• Scorecard